SUPPORT ZACADIA'S KEEP A GIRL IN SCHOOL PROJECT IN ZANZIBAR!

TO DONATE PLEASE VISIT THIS PAGE:

https://capnetwork.reachapp.co/campaigns/keep-a-girl-in-school-project

“Keep A Girl in School’’ is another special project of ZACADIA (Zanzibar-Canadian Diaspora Association) working together with PDS (Prospective Development Skills) in Zanzibar (Unguja and Pemba) to provide sanitary pads to girls in primary and secondary schools in the rural areas of Zanzibar for free. Young girls in Zanzibar experience multiple challenges during their menstrual periods, particularly when having their first period:

• Access to Sanitary Napkins: Girls in rural communities have few sanitary options and use inappropriate and unclean materials for pads and tampons. These practices can be very harmful, causing fungal and urinary tract infections, ovarian cysts, infertility, and cancer. In rural areas where transportation networks are poor, ensuring a regular supply of disposable pads at an affordable cost is also challenging.
• Poor Sanitation Infrastructure in Schools: The Tanzania Water and Sanitation Network (TAWASANET), reports that 98% of schools offer inadequate washroom facilities, access to soap and water and privacy for girls. Safe disposal of used pads in schools remains a problem. Unsafe disposal carries with it environmental and health risks.
• Menstruation Management Skills: Cultural taboos and myths, especially in the rural areas create fear and embarrassment and low self-esteem for girls.
• Unaffordable Commercial Sanitary Pads: The 2020 UNICEF survey reports that 34% of children in Zanzibar live in basic-needs poverty. Disposable pads currently on the market are unaffordable for these families.

PDS working together with Zacadia of Canada already developed reusable sanitary pads made from fabric and absorbent materials that are locally available. The pads have an absorption rate three to eight times of any pads on the market. The objective is to produce 5,000 reusable sanitary pads locally and distribute them for free to primary and secondary school girls when they start menstruating.

For $10 you will provide one girl with a package of three reusable sanitary pads, which will last her for one year.

The initiative will sustain itself by also setting up a local facility to manufacture affordable, ecofriendly alternatives to expensive, imported pads.
Up to 1,600 girls from rural schools in Zanzibar will benefit from the project. The Keep a Girl in School project will help to ensure that these girls attend school regularly and complete their education.

http://zanzibarnikwetu.blogspot.com/2022/08/cap-welcomes-zacadia-as-affiliate-member.html#more